TOPICS: Chatbot for Government   Chatbot for Website    Building a chatbot   

Government chatbot: How chatbots can improve citizens’ experience

Online chatbots are well on their way to becoming the default customer support solution for government services. They can process service requests in huge numbers, function round the clock, and help government departments and civic bodies fulfil their duties at significantly lower costs. But these obvious advantages aside, chatbots entail several long-term benefits for the government services that use them. In a nutshell, they help governments sculpt a better image in the eyes of their citizens.



Governments that opt for online chatbots automatically opt for efficiency. And they achieve this by ensuring the following for their citizens:

Chatbots for accessible and efficient public services:

Citizens view the presence of a live chat window on a government website as an indicator of accessibility and efficiency. The speed with which these chatbots respond to queries and complaints, as well as their availability on the site even on public holidays and outside of business hours, builds trust in the government’s competence.

This benefit is two-pronged. With chatbots acting as the first point of contact for the people, the government body’s human staff is free to focus on processing requests, implementing regulations, and improving infrastructure. This further reinforces the government’s image as a competent, proactive, and efficient organization.

Up-to-date and readily available information:

Government websites usually carry all the information that citizens might need, but accessing this information tends to be an uphill task. This leads to the assumption that extracting documentation on a tax law or a regulation will be a lengthy and tedious process involving online research.

By building chatbots for their websites, government bodies can change this assumption. Information on laws, regulations and public services can be parsed into a simple Q&A format, and dispensed to citizens right through the chat window. Information that citizens seek on a regular basis can also be built into a quick-access menu in the chat window. This is a particularly convenient approach for information that tends to get updated on a regular basis – a city’s calendar of activities, events and public holidays, for instance.

Easily resolved issues using bots:

Any service that caters to a big market, requires an efficient and effective complaint resolution system. Government services such as tax authorities, electricity boards, and motor vehicle departments, are no exception. Users of these services are bound to run into issues such as payment failures, misplaced passwords, or incorrectly filed details. These situations cannot be avoided in entirety, but the government body in question can certainly create a chatbot that helps users solve these problems as soon as possible.

Complaint resolution is a key consideration in government chatbot development. The best chatbots for government services are not only able to answer quick questions that users might have about filing their taxes or renewing their licenses, but they can also enable users to pull out relevant records, and file detailed complaints or support requests through the chat window. A ticket ID can be generated against each of these complaints or requests, and the user can get back to the website any time to check on the status of the ticket.

Simpler requests, such as password resets and collecting feedback from citizens can be completely automated and processed by the chatbot. The latter also helps government bodies stay up-to-date with the issues and concerns of their citizens, and take requisite measures to improve their experience.

Are you looking for specific information on building chatbots for government services, or on chatbot development in general? Our team will be happy to answer all your questions; get in touch with us right here.